Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2007
Edit Blog Post
When the rain stopped, people’s moods seemed to elevate a tad. Literally that means, MY mood seemed to elevate a tad. We had some fun times in the last three days, and the thought of another get away weekend to Phuket this coming weekend helps too….
I picked up the cutest pj pants for Miles. The original plan was to stop him scratching his skeeter bites at night, but apparently the pants have set off a whole wave of change around here. Miles decided they were cool dragon pants (see his dragon pose in the picture) and then starting kicking and whirling (characteristic of a dragon) and Britt suggested he learn karate. Welllllllll, Britt is an almost brown belt in Karate and has offered to teach him a few days a week. Then Marrin wanted dragon pants…and to do Karate as well….so, as soon as the rains freaking stop, we’ll have Karate lessons! In the meantime, Miles is practicing meditation, VERY hard.
Oh! Exciting exciting, I cooked tonight. In my very own wok and rice cooker…..I made eggs….a huge step towards Thai domesticity…lol…now I need a mortar and pestle to grind chilis and such with fish sauce and lime
juice, lemon grass and Thai basil. I am so happy to be cooking something. I danced a little jig around my kitchen….
No, I’m not delirious…..
We found a puppy today cowering in the rain in the front yard of the orphanage. He was wimpering for hours and hours…possibly abandoned by his mother. We know where he came from and the other three in his litter are still about, but this one either got lost or was booted out.
Pee Kop plucked it out from under the palms and he was shivering soo much his breathing was vibrating. He had been out in the wet for most of the day. We dried him off and pulled the muddy clumps, fleas and debris off him and then took a blow dryer to him to get him warm. He has mange but just the beginnings, so if he lives through the night, we’ll take him to the vet and get him fixed up.
I was amazed when I saw the local vet shop last week, but with all the imported purebred poodles, it’s not surprising.
We have named him “Nouw” which means shiver.
Miles took a liking
Frog eyeball soup....
kidding! It's ginger and fruit (seed) desert soup...yummy to him immediately but I won’t let the kids touch him until he is de-flea-ed and his mange medicated. I did let them pet his head once and tuck him under a sarong for the night in an old washtub at the orphanage, then washed their hands with Lye soap.
Ick…
On a sadder note,
Rotjana returned briefly this last evening for a visit. She is incredibly weak and sore. She now has a shaved head and wears the robes of a nun as expected of someone as sick as she is. Her chemotherapy begins in a few days. She has had a mastectomy and hopefully will manage to kill the cancer before it spreads. Her 10 hour journey from Bangkok and the day at the orphanage has already taken its toll. She was taken to hospital again this afternoon as her incisions are weeping and infected. She leaves again tomorrow morning. Her doctor has indicated it will be up to a year before she resumes her duties as Director or the orphanage here.
Kow Jai This…..
Warning to those of you that cannot handle foul language; the remainder of this blog is intended
as an outlet for all the pent up sarcastic energy I have accumulated living in a place where the world seems to stand on its head to accomplish anything.
The following is a list of the common “What the F@*K is that all about!? Things we see on a regular basis.
(Translation…Kow Jai means to understand and has quickly become a euphemism among the volunteers here…we use it is a Thaiglish sort of way. Ex: Do you freaking Kow Jai what that guy just did?” or “I mai kow jai what the hell you are trying to explain.”)
The TOP 10 List:
10. How is it possible that with a climate that averages 85% humidity, there is denim EVERYWHERE!? Seriously, the novelty of using a hairdryer every laundry day just to combat the mold production in your fashionable denim is getting a bit ridiculous. It literally takes two days to dry your cloths. One hanging outdoors in the (pray for it: sun) is out and one day indoors sitting on the floor stuffing a miniature hairdryer up a pant leg.
9. While we are on the topic of clothing…why is so bloody impossible to buy
a NORMAL shirt on this country. EVERYTHING is poufy….frou frou, poodle ruffled excessiveness. It’s incredible the amount if time manufacturers spend attaching layers of ruffles to the most normal of t-shirts….I don’t Kow Jai it.
8. What the hell is wrong with this: they flavour everything with fish…everything. People there is fish flavoured candy. The kids go ape-shit over this stuff…lining up to have it shoved into their mouths by an adult and going bonkers over it.
7. The 7-11. Your one stop daily shop for everything. It’s heaven…okay okay…honestly though, with the below freezing air con, crusty meat pies and drinking yogurt, it’s the best thing since……you get the idea.
6. The bugs. I have seen my roomie on her hands and knees pointing flashlights and camera at every species of bug that has had the pleasure of dropping into our studio. Truly…there are some messed up bugs and she is on a serious mission to photograph every one….her images will one day be famous. I swear to god. One amusing factoid about our buggy friends is the evening death rituals that we observe each night between 8 and 10 pm. Mass numbers of these creatures
perform an exodus of death courtesy of our fluorescent lighting and the cold tile floor upon which they rest after their drop from the ceiling. I don’t need to clean however, as the ants come marching…….and carry away the carcasses by dawn.
5. They have to have their own countdown slot because the fucking flies in this country are going to drive me to the insane asylum. They are the most brazen, bold and balsy flies in the country. I had the pleasant experience this morning of having one land on my nose AS I was sipping my coffee. I swatted it, shook my head and performed every manner of jig known to man and it refused to relinquish its grip on my pores. I stood there cross-eyed staring at this thing on my nose in utter defeat.
4. Mosquito coils in this country apparently only kill Thai mosquitoes…Really. Imported coils don’t work…
No, the skeeters only die by the smoke of the Thai coils.
3. Plastic hooks. Nails are harder to find in this country that a replica stone alligator is in Canada. Honestly. There are, however, more brands, styles, sizes, packages, colors and sticky tape options of plastic hooks than there is gum. This country is built on and by concrete and by concrete and nails are not a friend. My mosquito net, frying pan, toilet paper roll, motocyc helmet, and dog gate are all hung on plastic hooks.
2. The bucket flush. Really, I love the use of a hand held plastic fisher price pot to scoop and swish the bow with. Brilliant.
1. The Pop-Music-Political-Party-Announcer Trucks at 8:30 EVERY morning. Who needs roosters that can’t tell the time when at 8:30 the loudspeaker, bullhorn toting propaganda trucks come rolling through the village. Gooooooood Moooorning Thailand!
Mai fucking Kow Jai this country….
Advertisement
Tot: 0.298s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.1519s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Grandma D
non-member comment
Kow Jai!! I like that. So who's this guy Nan. Who's Champ. Miles friend for sure.